Is It Good? Fight Club 2 #3 Review

Issue two ended in a big way when Marla and Sebastian’s fight revealed that not only has Tyler has crawled back into their lives, but he’s also responsible for the disappearance of their son. Now badly bruised, Sebastian is headed for the house he once called home with Tyler over a decade ago. So is it good?

Fight Club 2 #3 (Dark Horse Comics)

Issue three of Fight Club 2 predominantly focuses on Sebastian’s experiences while waiting for acceptance into the house. The original novel featured the cult made up of lost stragglers of the baby boom generation and the mid-life crisis middle-agers. However, what Sebastian discovers in this issue, whilst sitting on the stoop amongst the hopefuls, is that the new recruits are getting younger and younger. Project X focused on wiping society’s financial slate clean, but Tyler has his eyes set on something bigger in this storyline. The introduction of youth aligns with Tyler’s plan to induct a new generation into the club and completely restructure our nation as a whole.

Now three issues into the series, I can confidently voice my likes and dislikes as we now have a pretty definitive grasp on the comic’s nature. This issue seemingly reveals the plot of the first arc or at least Tyler’s dastardly plans going forward. These plans unfortunately feel a bit uncharacteristic to the original storyline. Fight Club was formerly about defining masculinity and a blending of the economic classes through acts of terrorism. However after this latest issue it seems like all Tyler really wants is to be the head of an underground terrorist organization. Granted, Fight Club has always been a dark novel, but within the latest issue I think it takes it too far with Tyler literally demanding, “kill the president…kill a senator…kill a mayor.”

It just feels like the nature of the issue is focused more on civil terrorism and that may be intentional. I can see Palahniuk choosing to subtly change the focal subject to something that’s more relevant, or at least more widely discussed, within today’s media. It’s just unfortunate because I miss the “fight club” aspect of the story. This issue is absent of any comedy which would otherwise offset this absurdly morbid issue. Instead we’re given panels with free couches purposefully outfitted with dirty needles. This is not a feel good story.

So what are the positives? The art is really good and I’m sold on Stewart’s work. I can’t imagine trying to design the visuals for Palahniuk’s crazed storyline, but he’s done an excellent job thus far. I’m not crazy on the superficial images on the panels (I find them more distracting than anything), but they only show up once in this issue. Other than that Stewart’s solid.

Is It Good?

This has changed from a story containing twisted themes to a comic that takes you to a dark place and lingers with you even after you’re finished. Now I’m sure others might enjoy this issue because it moves the plot along a considerable amount and sheds some light on Tyler’s plans, but it’s far too dark for my taste. This issue continues to prove that the comic series is further deviating from the original novel’s themes, subject matter, and even quality.